CENTENNIAL — Defense attorneys Tuesday asked Arapahoe County District Judge Valeria Spencer to acquit Aaron Thompson of 60 counts related to the death of his daughter Aaroné.

Spencer said no, ruling that prosecutors have presented “ample evidence that this case should go forward.”

As is customary, defense attorneys argued for acquittal after the prosecution rested its case.

Jurors were sent home for the day, so they did not hear arguments on the motion for acquittal. They have listened to more than four weeks of testimony in the case, in which Thompson has been linked to the death of his daughter Aaroné and accused of burying her body in a field. He is also blamed for the abuse of seven other children that lived with him and his girlfriend, Shelley Lowe, in their Aurora home.

Witnesses have included some of the children and their therapists, other family members and friends turned informants.

Although the defense attorneys argued that the case against Thompson is lacking in evidence, Spencer denied the motion with strong language that implied the prosecution presented a credible case.

“There are so many overt acts,” Spencer said. “He (Thompson) clearly had knowledge and the understanding” of the crimes he’s charged with.

This was the first hint attorneys on both sides had as to how the case is playing in the courtroom. There is a gag order in the case, and the investigation file is sealed.

Thompson is charged with child abuse resulting in death, rather than murder, because prosecutors have no evidence that Thomp son killed Aaroné, and because her body has not been found.

Lowe, who also has been implicated in Aaroné’s death, died in May 2006. The girl was reported missing in November 2005, but investigators believe she may have been killed in 2003.

Spencer said Lowe and Thompson acted “really in concert” to provide false information to authorities about Aaroné’s death.

“This clearly involved the children in covering up her death,” Spencer said.

“There is clear evidence that the defendant was keeping control of the situation,” Spencer said of the count of providing misinformation to authorities about Aaroné’s death.

Arguing against the count of abuse of a corpse, defense attorney James Karbach said Aaroné’s body was buried in a common practice in our society.

Prosecutor Amy Miller accused Thompson of taking the body and throwing it in a hole, then lying about its location, which she said rose to the level of abuse of a corpse.

Spencer agreed with Miller.

“We’re not in the period where children had to be buried along the Oregon Trail,” she said. “This is a far cry from burying her in a cemetery where the family can visit her.”

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